I took a class with Anspach and San Francisco State U. He entertained the class a couple of times at his house. Nice progressive guy His father in law was also of the left.
On Sun, Feb 15, 2015 at 9:07 AM, Louis Proyect <[email protected]> wrote: > NY Times, Feb. 15 2015 > Monopoly's Inventor: The Progressive Who Didn't Pass 'Go' > By MARY PILON > > For generations, the story of Monopoly's Depression-era origins > delighted fans almost as much as the board game itself. > > The tale, repeated for decades and often tucked into the game's box > along with the Community Chest and Chance cards, was that an unemployed > man named Charles Darrow dreamed up Monopoly in the 1930s. He sold it > and became a millionaire, his inventiveness saving him -- and Parker > Brothers, the beloved New England board game maker -- from the brink of > destruction. > > This month, fans of the game learned that Hasbro, which has owned the > brand since 1991, would tuck real money into a handful of Monopoly sets > as part of the game's 80th "anniversary" celebration. > > The trouble is, that origin story isn't exactly true. > > It turns out that Monopoly's origins begin not with Darrow 80 years ago, > but decades before with a bold, progressive woman named Elizabeth Magie, > who until recently has largely been lost to history, and in some cases > deliberately written out of it. > > Magie lived a highly unusual life. Unlike most women of her era, she > supported herself and didn't marry until the advanced age of 44. In > addition to working as a stenographer and a secretary, she wrote poetry > and short stories and did comedic routines onstage. She also spent her > leisure time creating a board game that was an expression of her > strongly held political beliefs. > > Magie filed a legal claim for her Landlord's Game in 1903, more than > three decades before Parker Brothers began manufacturing Monopoly. She > actually designed the game as a protest against the big monopolists of > her time -- people like Andrew Carnegie and John D. Rockefeller. > > She created two sets of rules for her game: an anti-monopolist set in > which all were rewarded when wealth was created, and a monopolist set in > which the goal was to create monopolies and crush opponents. Her > dualistic approach was a teaching tool meant to demonstrate that the > first set of rules was morally superior. > > And yet it was the monopolist version of the game that caught on, with > Darrow claiming a version of it as his own and selling it to Parker > Brothers. While Darrow made millions and struck an agreement that > ensured he would receive royalties, Magie's income for her creation was > reported to be a mere $500. > > Amid the press surrounding Darrow and the nationwide Monopoly craze, > Magie lashed out. In 1936 interviews with The Washington Post and The > Evening Star she expressed anger at Darrow's appropriation of her idea. > Then elderly, her gray hair tied back in a bun, she hoisted her own game > boards before a photographer's lens to prove that she was the game's > true creator. > > "Probably, if one counts lawyer's, printer's and Patent Office fees used > up in developing it," The Evening Star said, "the game has cost her more > than she made from it." > > In 1948, Magie died in relative obscurity, a widow without children. > Neither her headstone nor her obituary mentions her role in the creation > of Monopoly. > > A Born Provocateur > > Elizabeth Magie was born in Macomb, Ill., in 1866, the year after the > Civil War ended and Abraham Lincoln was assassinated. Her father, James > Magie, was a newspaper publisher and an abolitionist who accompanied > Lincoln as he traveled around Illinois in the late 1850s debating > politics with Stephen Douglas. > > James Magie gained a reputation as a rousing stump speaker. "I have > often been called a 'chip off the old block,' " Elizabeth said of her > relationship with her father, "which I consider quite a compliment, for > I am proud of my father for being the kind of an 'old block' that he is." > > Because of her father's part ownership of The Canton Register, Elizabeth > was exposed to journalism at an early age. She also watched and listened > as, shortly after the Civil War, her father clerked in the Illinois > legislature and ran for office on an anti-monopoly ticket -- an election > that he lost. > > The seeds of the Monopoly game were planted when James Magie shared with > his daughter a copy of Henry George's best-selling book, "Progress and > Poverty," written in 1879. > > As an anti-monopolist, James Magie drew from the theories of George, a > charismatic politician and economist who believed that individuals > should own 100 percent of what they made or created, but that everything > found in nature, particularly land, should belong to everyone. George > was a proponent of the "land value tax," also known as the "single tax." > The general idea was to tax land, and only land, shifting the tax burden > to wealthy landlords. His message resonated with many Americans in the > late 1800s, when poverty and squalor were on full display in the > country's urban centers. > > The anti-monopoly movement also served as a staging area for women's > rights advocates, attracting followers like James and Elizabeth Magie. > > In the early 1880s, Elizabeth Magie worked as a stenographer. At the > time, stenography was a growing profession, one that opened up to women > as the Civil War removed many men from the work force. The typewriter > was gaining commercial popularity, leaving many to ponder a strange new > world in which typists sat at desks, hands fixed to keys, memorizing > seemingly illogical arrangements of letters on the new qwerty keyboards. > > When she wasn't working, Magie, known to her friends as Lizzie, > struggled to be heard creatively. In the evenings, she pursued her > literary ambitions, and as a player in Washington's nascent theater > scene, performed on the stage, where she earned praise for her comedic > roles. Though small-framed, she had a presence -- an audience at the > Masonic Hall exploded with laughter at her comical rendition of a > simpering old woman. > > She also spent her time drawing and redrawing, thinking and rethinking > the game that she wanted to be based on the theories of George, who died > in 1897. > > When she applied for a patent for her game in 1903, Magie was in her > 30s. She represented the less than 1 percent of all patent applicants at > the time who were women. (Magie also dabbled in engineering; in her 20s, > she invented a gadget that allowed paper to pass through typewriter > rollers with more ease.) > > Unusually, Magie was the head of her household. She had saved up for and > bought her home near Washington, along with several acres of property. > > It hadn't been easy. Several years after she obtained the patent for her > game, and finding it difficult to support herself on the $10 a week she > was earning as a stenographer, Magie staged an audacious stunt mocking > marriage as the only option for women; it made national headlines. > Purchasing an advertisement, she offered herself for sale as a "young > woman American slave" to the highest bidder. Her ad said that she was > "not beautiful, but very attractive," and that she had "features full of > character and strength, yet truly feminine." > > The ad quickly became the subject of news stories and gossip columns in > newspapers around the country. The goal of the stunt, Magie told > reporters, was to make a statement about the dismal position of women. > "We are not machines," Magie said. "Girls have minds, desires, hopes and > ambition." > > If Magie's goal had been to gain an audience for her ideas, she > succeeded. In the fall of 1906 she took a job as a newspaper reporter. > Four years later, she married a businessman, Albert Phillips, who, at > 54, was 10 years Lizzie's senior. The union was an unusual one -- a woman > in the 40s embarking on a first marriage, and a man marrying a woman who > had publicly expressed her skepticism of marriage as an institution. > > Cult Hit to Best Seller > > It was a time of shifting attitudes and behaviors. At the turn of the > 20th century, board games were becoming increasingly commonplace for > middle-class families. Changing workplaces gave rise to more leisure > time. Electric lighting was becoming common in American homes, > reinventing the daily schedule: Games could now be played more safely > and enjoyably, and for longer hours, than had been possible during the > gaslight era. > > Magie's game featured a path that allowed players to circle the board, > in contrast to the linear-path design used by many games at the time. In > one corner were the Poor House and the Public Park, and across the board > was the Jail. Another corner contained an image of the globe and a > homage to Henry George: "Labor Upon Mother Earth Produces Wages." Also > included on the board were three words that have endured for more than a > century after Lizzie scrawled them there: "Go to Jail." > > "It is a practical demonstration of the present system of land-grabbing > with all its usual outcomes and consequences," Magie said of her game in > a 1902 issue of The Single Tax Review. "It might well have been called > the 'Game of Life,' as it contains all the elements of success and > failure in the real world, and the object is the same as the human race > in general seem to have, i.e., the accumulation of wealth." > > On some level, Lizzie understood that the game provided a context -- it > was just a game, after all -- in which players could lash out at friends > and family in a way that they often couldn't in daily life. She > understood the power of drama and the potency of assuming roles outside > of one's everyday identity. Her game spread, becoming a folk favorite > among left-wing intellectuals, particularly in the Northeast. It was > played at several college campuses, including what was then called the > Wharton School of Finance and Economy, Harvard University and Columbia > University. Quakers who had established a community in Atlantic City > embraced the game and added their neighborhood properties to the board. > > It was a version of this game that Charles Darrow was taught by a > friend, played and eventually sold to Parker Brothers. The version of > that game had the core of Magie's game, but also modifications added by > the Quakers to make the game easier to play. In addition to properties > named after Atlantic City streets, fixed prices were added to the board. > In its efforts to seize total control of Monopoly and other related > games, the company struck a deal with Magie to purchase her Landlord's > Game patent and two more of her game ideas not long after it made its > deal with Darrow. > > In a letter to George Parker, Magie expressed high hopes for the future > of her Landlord's Game at Parker Brothers and the prospect of having two > more games published with the company. Yet there's no evidence that > Parker Brothers shared this optimism, nor could the company -- or Darrow > -- have known that Monopoly wouldn't be a mere hit, but a perennial best > seller for generations. > > Representatives for Hasbro did not respond to a request for comment. > > Magie's identity as Monopoly's inventor was uncovered by accident. In > 1973, Ralph Anspach, an economics professor, began a decade-long legal > battle against Parker Brothers over the creation of his Anti-Monopoly > game. In researching his case, he uncovered Magie's patents and > Monopoly's folk-game roots. He became consumed with telling the truth of > what he calls "the Monopoly lie." > > In a deposition for that case, Robert Barton, the Parker Brothers > president who oversaw the Monopoly deal, called Magie's game "completely > worthless" and said that Parker Brothers had published a small run of > her games "merely to make her happy." > > Mr. Anspach's legal battle lasted a decade and ended at the Supreme > Court. But he won the right to produce his Anti-Monopoly games, and his > research into Magie and the game's origins was confirmed. > > Roughly 40 years have passed since the truth about Monopoly began to > appear publicly, yet the Darrow myth persists as an inspirational > parable of American innovation. It's hard not to wonder how many other > buried histories are still out there -- stories belonging to lost Lizzie > Magies who quietly chip away at creating pieces of the world, their > contributions so seamless that few of us ever stop to think about the > person or people behind the idea. > > Who should get credit for an invention and how? The Monopoly game raises > that question in a particularly compelling way. "Success has many > fathers," goes the adage -- to say nothing of the mothers. > > This article is adapted from "The Monopolists: Obsession, Fury, and the > Scandal Behind the World's Favorite Board Game," by Mary Pilon, to be > published this month by Bloomsbury. > _______________________________________________ > pen-l mailing list > [email protected] > https://lists.csuchico.edu/mailman/listinfo/pen-l > -- Michael Perelman Economics Department California State University Chico, CA 95929 530 898 5321 fax 530 898 5901 http://michaelperelman.wordpress.com
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